Chapter Text
After the thrill of finding a sky rock wears off, you all have to decide what to do about it. You imagine a sky rock's gotta be good for something, but Frin says he forgets, and Ciel doesn't know either. They just think it's cool because it comes from the sky. You're a little disappointed, but you suggest that maybe Dile will know what you can do with it. In the meantime, everybody agrees that the Sky-Loving Kid can keep it, since they like it so much. They squeak out a “thank you.”
“I didn’t do anything. You should thank Frin! He found it,” You say. It’s only polite.
Ciel turns to Frin and gives them a little smile. “Um. Thank you, Frin. I promise I’ll take good care of it.”
They nod, looking serious. “Of course. I trust you.”
The Sky-Loving Kid turns to scamper home, mumbling about where they’re going to put their new treasure. Once they’re out of sight, Frin crinkles their nose and wink-blinks at you.
Then Drawing Kid and the Frog-Loving Kid settle down on the ground by the rock where Frin is seated. He makes a funny face. It reminds you of the time when you were staying at an inn a couple weeks ago. They got surprised and nearly spilled their drink because a cat suddenly jumped into their lap. It’s not a bad kind of surprise. You know he likes cats.
You gently touch their foot with your foot, and they give you a little smile and poke your arm in return.
Za is watching the group, standing with his hands on his hips. He’s so tall and sturdy, sometimes being near to him makes you feel like you’re under a Favor Tree. Then his eyes get all sparkly when he notices that the Frog-Loving Kid is doing embroidery.
“Whoa! Nice frog!” He says, crouching down and leaning in to get a closer look.
“Jeanine loves frogs,” Agathe explains to him. (Oh, good, you didn’t have to ask what her name was again! Jeanine! You’ll definitely remember this time. You’re not as forgetful as Frin.)
“That's TOAD-ally awesome!” Frin and Za both say it at the same time.
“Jinx,” Za says, grinning widely. They both start laughing - Za with his big booming ‘ha ha ha,’ and Frin with a quiet snort.
“Hehehe, toad-ally, like toads! Hehehehe!” She giggles. Oh no, it’s another pun person!
“Yeah, your embroidery is really neat! I’d say it’s an… un-frog-getable work of art,” Frin chirps, earning more giggles from Jeanine. Her face is a couple shades darker than normal, but she looks really happy.
“I'm glad you find my puns so ribbit-ing,” The big guy wears a goofy grin.
You roll your eyes, but you don't want to make Jeanine feel bad for liking stupid jokes ‘cause she's just a little kid, so you don't say anything.
“Do you know how to embroider, Isa?” Frin tilts his head and lifts a hand up to touch his face, right under the eye he lost. You feel a stab of guilt - is it hurting?? But then you realize he’s just pointing at the eyepatch, because Za sewed it. Whew. “Is that very different from sewing?”
“Um, I know the basics? Those smooth parts are satin stitch, right?” He points at the frog’s belly and looks at the Frog-Loving Kid with his eyebrows raised. She nods shyly. “And it looks like you used a stem stitch for the outline? …What’s this one called?”
Slowly, Jeanine shows her teeth in a big, big grin. “Hehehe… Fly stitch...”
The Bad Jokes Appreciation Crew all giggle. “Fly stitch. Yum,” Za sticks out his tongue and croaks, pretending to be a frog looking for dinner. “I think I’ve seen it before, but it was called something else… Um… Open-looped stitch? Can you show me how you do that one?” Behind him, Frin makes a sour face. Oh, right. They call the forever school loops. Or maybe they’re thinking about their weird star friend Loop. (You wonder where they went. You had so many questions for them!!!) Anyway, Frin probably likes the pun name better.
“Uh-huh,” She nods and pokes her needle up from underneath the cloth, then back down. “First you make a normal straight stitch. That’s gonna be the fly’s wings,” Pulling the needle back up again, in a different spot, she continued. “Then you make the fly body and put on its wings.” She looped the thread into the stitch she had just made, and brought the needle back down again, close to where it was sticking up from the fabric. Tightening it together, the whole thing made a V shape. Another fly for the frog to eat.
“Oh, that makes sense!” Za tries to copy the motions Jeanine was making. It looked silly, since he was just waving his huge punching hands around in the air. Behind them, Frin is watching with more focus than normal. You’re not sure if they’re actually interested in the embroidery, or if they’re just ogling Za.
The little girl peers up at her large student. “If you want to make it a really fat, juicy fly, you can make its body a french knot stitch, like this.” She picks out another fly, but this time, she makes a little round knot at the point of the V, so it sticks out.
“Oh! Interesting. What does the name mean? French knot?”
The Frog-Loving Girl shrugged. Probably not worth remembering the name, since it doesn’t have anything to do with frogs.
The raised surface of all the different stitches and knots does look pretty cool, up close. “Can I touch it?” You ask, wiggling your fingers.
Snipping off the thread with a tiny pair of scissors from her pocket, Jeanine nods and hands it over to you. “Be careful,” she cautions. The fabric is held flat, stretched over a wooden circle, but it’s lighter than you expected. You poke at the frog picture. It’s not slimy... Obviously. But you’re still a little disappointed.
Za asks for a turn, so you hand it to him, and he asks a bunch of other questions about how Jeanine made it. You smile. He’s like a little brother to you. Sure, he’s so big that he could probably eat the rest of you for breakfast! But even though he looks cool and tough on the outside, he’s actually just a nerdy, gentle marshmallow guy. (He wouldn’t hurt a fly,) you think. But you don’t say it out loud, because it’s a bad pun.
“I’m bored now,” Agathe declares. “Can we find more rocks?”
“Yeah! You haven’t shown us how you throw rocks with your wizard powers yet!” Paolo points at Frin. “You gotta!”
“I’ll join you in a minute. I wanna show Frin and Za the picture that Binta made for me first,” You tell Agathe, giving them a double thumbs up.
“CRAB YEAH!!!” Agathe punches the air a few times. The two of them sprint away, making a running leap over the broken bridge. There are more rocks on that side. You see Agathe make a basket out of the front of their shirt, and they start collecting. They’re very noisy about it.
You climb up onto the rock next to Frin. It’s barely big enough for both of your butts, so you make sure he sees you first. “I’m gonna sit with you now,” You say, then you lean on him. Swinging your rucksack into your lap, you open it up and dig out the picture that Binta drew. “Look! The Drawing Kid made this. It’s me and Nille. Binta’s never seen Nille but they did a good job guessing what she looks like!” Then you put the other picture on top of it, “And this one is our whole family, ‘cept for Nille.”
Frin’s eyes get huge and they make a tiny little noise in the back of their throat. Oh no!!! Is that a sad sound??? Oh no!!!!! Now they’re sniffling and their eye is getting all watery! They definitely need a hug, so you squeeze them, but you don’t know what else to do.
“Za!!!!” You yelp, “Frin is leaking!”
“Oh!” His head whips around and he scrambles up out of the dirt. “Sif! Siffrin. Siffarooni. Buddy. What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He holds out his hands like he doesn’t know what to do either, even though he’s an adult and he should be good at this. “Um. Can I hug you?”
He nods, so Isa gently wraps the two of you up in his arms.
You’re… Really not sure what’s going on with Frin now. He’s looking right at you, with big tears dripping out of his eye, but he’s also smiling, and you’re not sure if he’s shaking from sobs or if he’s laughing? “I- I- I’m- I’m okay. R-really,” Frin stutters. “Th-Thank you. Th-th-thank-”
“Hmm. Breathe with me?” Za says, and all three of you do it together. In, and out. You remember going out on a fishing boat with Nille, last year. This reminds you of that feeling, bobbing up and down on the waves. After a while, the motion of the sea made you sick... But right now, the gentle rise and fall feels soothing.
“...Thank you,” Frin says after a few more breaths, voice steadier. “The drawing. It’s wonderful.” They give Binta a watery smile.
“I think so too,” You say.
The Drawing Kid stands up and joins your group hug, leaning on Frin’s knees. Jeanine also grabs one of Za’s legs and a fistful of Frin’s cloak.
You feel a little bad about it, since he’s feeling crummy... But you can’t help thinking that it’s kinda nice to take care of Frin, for once.